A couple of days ago, Aakash Chopra, one of ESPNcricinfo's regular columnists, tweeted: "Just stumbled upon Dhoni's strike rate in Twenty20 internationals - it's less than 110. Unbelievable, isn't it?"

All those who have seen MS Dhoni the ODI batsman in full flight will react similarly when they see his numbers in T20 internationals. (Since that tweet, Dhoni scored 23 off 13 against South Africa to lift his career strike rate marginally, to 111.07.) As an ODI player, Dhoni has been consistently enterprising, batting up the order in key games, taking the initiative, playing few dot balls, and hitting the big shots when required. The 2011 World Cup final was a good example, though there have been other instances when he has played decisive innings with the bat.

In ODIs, Dhoni has a strike rate of 88.42 and an average of 51.17. Among batsmen who have scored at least 2000 runs, Dhoni's strike rate is 15th out of 172 batsmen; with this cut-off, he is one of only three batsmen in the history of ODIs - Hashim Amla and Virat Kohli are the others - to have an 80-plus strike rate and a 50-plus average.

In T20 internationals, however, Dhoni's striking abilities seem to shrink drastically. He has had his moments in this format - he scored 36 off 18 in the 2007 World Twenty20 against Australia, and 46 off 28 against Sri Lanka in 2009 - but they have been too few and far between. Of the 17 times he has played at least 18 balls in an innings, only on five occasions has his strike rate exceeded 125. (Click here for his innings-wise list, sorted by balls faced.) Out of 29 batsmen who have faced at least 500 deliveries in T20 internationals, 24 have a better strike rate than Dhoni. The four who have poorer strike rates than him are all from Pakistan, and all of them have had the misfortune of playing plenty of games in the UAE, in conditions that aren't favourable for quick scoring.

The table below lists the batsmen with the lowest strike rates, and also lists the overall strike rates in the matches played by each batsman. In the case of Pakistan's batsmen, the strike rates are all between 110 and 115, while in Dhoni's case it's nearly 125. Taking a ratio between the player strike rate and the overall strike rate for each batsman, it's clear than Dhoni's ratio is lower than those of other batsmen, which means he has scored slowly in matches that were relatively higher-scoring than those that featured Pakistan's batsmen. Dhoni is the only one whose ratio is lower than 0.90.

Batsmen with lowest strike rates in T20Is (Qual: 500 balls faced)

Batsman

Matches

Runs/ Balls

Average

Strike rate

Overall SR*

Ratio

50s

Salman Butt

24

595/ 551

28.33

107.98

115.30

0.94

3

Shoaib Malik

49

807/ 743

23.05

108.61

110.76

0.98

2

Mohammad Hafeez

39

769/ 702

20.78

109.54

112.75

0.97

2

Misbah-ul-Haq

39

788/ 715

37.52

110.20

111.99

0.98

3

MS Dhoni

38

652/ 587

31.04

111.07

124.68

0.89

0

Hamilton Masakadza

22

585/ 502

26.59

116.53

114.94

1.01

5

Umar Akmal

39

810/ 692

27.00

117.05

112.21

1.04

4

Jacques Kallis

25

666/ 558

35.05

119.35

118.52

1.01

5

* Strike rate in the matches featuring the player

Among the six Indian batsmen who have faced at least 300 balls, Dhoni's strike rate is again easily the lowest. He is also the only one among them to have never scored a half-century.

Strike rates of Indian batsmen in T20Is (Qual: 300 balls faced)

Batsman

Matches

Runs

Balls

Average

Strike rate

50+ scores

Yuvraj Singh

29

667

461

30.31

144.68

5

Suresh Raina

32

768

564

33.39

136.17

4

Virat Kohli

16

463

358

38.58

129.32

4

Rohit Sharma

32

501

393

31.31

127.48

5

Gautam Gambhir

33

835

688

27.83

121.36

7

MS Dhoni

38

652

587

31.04

111.07

0

Here's a look at how Dhoni scores his runs in T20 internationals. The dot-ball percentage is about 36, which is reasonable but should be lower for a batsman who bats in the middle and end overs, when the field is spread out and allows easy singles. His boundary percentage is also a relatively low 42.33, which shows he hasn't been explosive either.

How Dhoni has scored his runs in T20Is

Dots

1s, 2s, 3s

4s, 6s

Dot %

Boundary%

Runs/ Balls

214

252, 59, 2

42, 18

36.46

42.33

652/ 587

Since Dhoni mostly bats in the second half of a T20 innings - 569 of his 652 runs have come during this period - let's compare his numbers with those of other batsmen who have batted mostly during this period. Among the 27 batsmen who have faced at least 40 overs during the second halves of T20 innings, Dhoni's strike rate of 124.50 is fourth from the bottom.

What's more surprising is the fact that his dot-ball percentage is also fourth-highest among these 27 batsmen. In ODIs, Dhoni tends to work the ball into gaps and keep the score moving during the middle and end overs, but in the 20-over format he has struggled with that as well. The list of batsmen who have a higher dot-ball ratio includes Ireland's Gary Wilson. Leave him out, and only two batsmen out of 26 have a higher dot-ball ratio. Both of them, though, are players who believe in getting a high percentage of their runs in boundaries, thus offsetting, to an extent, the impact of those dot balls. Cameron White, for example, has a 34% dot-ball ratio, but he also has a boundary percentage of more than 56, which pushes up his overall strike rate to almost 140.

Similarly, Albie Morkel and Eoin Morgan have dot-ball percentages similar to Dhoni's, but their overall strike rates are much higher - 150-plus for both - because of their tendency to score in boundaries.

Batsmen with highest dot-ball percentage in the last ten overs in T20Is (Qual: 240 balls faced)

Batsman

Innings

Runs/ balls

Average

Strike rate

Dot ball%

Boundary %

Gary Wilson

14

251/ 240

22.81

104.50

42.50

44.62

Abdul Razzaq

25

369/ 283

26.35

130.33

37.81

55.83

Cameron White

33

635/ 455

28.86

139.50

34.07

56.69

MS Dhoni

32

569/ 457

40.64

124.50

32.60

45.34

Albie Morkel

28

477/ 308

29.81

154.83

32.47

63.73

Eoin Morgan

25

600/ 395

35.29

151.83

32.15

59.67

Scott Styris

21

332/ 266

17.47

124.67

31.95

47.59

Jacob Oram

27

442/ 297

21.04

148.67

31.65

61.54

Misbah-ul-Haq

30

629/ 517

37.00

121.50

31.53

47.06

Shoaib Malik

35

485/ 411

19.40

118.00

31.14

42.89

On the other hand, here's the list of batsmen Dhoni should aspire towards: those who have the lowest dot-ball percentages - all lower than 28, and, apart from Angelo Mathews, strike rates of more than 140. The ideal stats belong to Michael Hussey: extremely low dot-ball percentage, fairly high boundary ratio, and a high average as well. AB de Villiers has outstanding numbers too, with a dot-ball ratio of only 25%.

Among the Indians, Suresh Raina has a relatively low dot percentage, but his boundary-hitting stats are even more impressive: almost 60% of his runs have come in fours and sixes, which significantly boosts his overall strike rate to 148.

Question marks have been raised over Dhoni's captaincy in the 2012 World Twenty20, but these stats show that his batting has generally been below par as well. For a batsman who is such a fine striker of the ball, they are pretty underwhelming numbers.

Sick people always hit the weaker side.. Why can't you feel the pressure that Dhoni generally faces when he comes to bat.Pressure is always built by the batsmen at top.

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 17:05 GMT

should have considered the match situations, pitch and quality of bowlers faced,,,,, dhoni's knock may not be statistically good,, but his presence and runs in situations need to be understood,,

IndCricFan2013
on October 6, 2012, 13:25 GMT

Yes, he is playing slow, but we do not have enough stats build up on T20 to blame Dhoni being slow, ( for example check his IPL stat). Agreed, he is not in good of the forms, but that is because, he does not play early enough and get back in form, the reason being, he wanted, Openers, Rohit and Yuvi to be in the best form and they have been promoted, he is doing captain's job. May be time to chance. Open with Gamdhir and Rohit, followed by Kohli and Raina. Dhoni should come in at No.5 before Yuvi, the all rounder.

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 13:02 GMT

Dhoni is great..but one simple request to him...play in this batting line up..
KOHLI, RAHANE, RAINA, YUVRAJ, DHONI, ROHIT, IRFAN, BALAJI AND 3 BOWLERS(DEPENDS ON CONDITION)....GAMBHIR AND SEHWAG HAS TO PROVE THEMSELVES THAT THEY ARE READY FOR T20.

This statistics is outrageous, shameless and biased. It does not consider match situations or overall team situation. Dhoni is being made out to be as a villain and being compared to other batsmen on strike rates?!! What about bringing out that Dhoni is a wicket keeper and the overall value he brings to the side. Let me remind everyone that before Dhoni we had keepers such as mongia, msk prasad and ratra, and India was a flop team who almost never won any tournament. Dhoni made us win 2 world cups as recent as 2011, if you call that as luck, add to it 2 IPLs, 1 CL (all T20 tournaments).

Aganthakudu
on October 6, 2012, 6:46 GMT

Numbers do not lie.Most of us fans feel that the Dhoni batting deteriorated at a steady pace during his time as captain. IMO, Dhoni should be sacked as captain in all 3 formats and then judge his place in the team based on his batting performance alone. Such a move does lots of good to the team. Thanks for Rajesh for taking time in putting these numbers that showcases poor batting of Dhoni against his false popular image as an aggressive batsman.

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 6:43 GMT

This statistics is crap and made out to for S Rajesh to show his personal bias towards Dhoni. It is strange that this statistics was brought up now.. and I am sure if India had won this T20, Mr. Rajesh would have not published this. I work in analytics and i know how this stuff rolls, you can tailor and highlight stats that you want to show.

For example: Among the six Indian batsmen who have faced at least 300 balls, Dhoni's strike rate is again easily the lowest. He is also the only one among them to have never scored a half-century.

What about the batting position of each batsmen. Dhoni bats @7 and most times he does not get enough balls to face, and your talking about 50s? this is t20 cricket!!! not test matches...

Hafiz_Khan
on October 6, 2012, 6:27 GMT

nothing wrong with dhoni, top order batsmen failing consistently, they should give good start and platform for middle order and lower order batsmen......

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 5:31 GMT

Include Rahane, Pujara and karthik instead of sehwag, gambhir and Dhoni then the batting will be formidable. Fast bowling, with replacements as Ishant, Awana, Mithun, Vinay, Umesh, praveen, varun India cannot be a gud side in fast bowling.

dummy4fb
on October 8, 2012, 7:05 GMT

Sick people always hit the weaker side.. Why can't you feel the pressure that Dhoni generally faces when he comes to bat.Pressure is always built by the batsmen at top.

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 17:05 GMT

should have considered the match situations, pitch and quality of bowlers faced,,,,, dhoni's knock may not be statistically good,, but his presence and runs in situations need to be understood,,

IndCricFan2013
on October 6, 2012, 13:25 GMT

Yes, he is playing slow, but we do not have enough stats build up on T20 to blame Dhoni being slow, ( for example check his IPL stat). Agreed, he is not in good of the forms, but that is because, he does not play early enough and get back in form, the reason being, he wanted, Openers, Rohit and Yuvi to be in the best form and they have been promoted, he is doing captain's job. May be time to chance. Open with Gamdhir and Rohit, followed by Kohli and Raina. Dhoni should come in at No.5 before Yuvi, the all rounder.

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 13:02 GMT

Dhoni is great..but one simple request to him...play in this batting line up..
KOHLI, RAHANE, RAINA, YUVRAJ, DHONI, ROHIT, IRFAN, BALAJI AND 3 BOWLERS(DEPENDS ON CONDITION)....GAMBHIR AND SEHWAG HAS TO PROVE THEMSELVES THAT THEY ARE READY FOR T20.

This statistics is outrageous, shameless and biased. It does not consider match situations or overall team situation. Dhoni is being made out to be as a villain and being compared to other batsmen on strike rates?!! What about bringing out that Dhoni is a wicket keeper and the overall value he brings to the side. Let me remind everyone that before Dhoni we had keepers such as mongia, msk prasad and ratra, and India was a flop team who almost never won any tournament. Dhoni made us win 2 world cups as recent as 2011, if you call that as luck, add to it 2 IPLs, 1 CL (all T20 tournaments).

Aganthakudu
on October 6, 2012, 6:46 GMT

Numbers do not lie.Most of us fans feel that the Dhoni batting deteriorated at a steady pace during his time as captain. IMO, Dhoni should be sacked as captain in all 3 formats and then judge his place in the team based on his batting performance alone. Such a move does lots of good to the team. Thanks for Rajesh for taking time in putting these numbers that showcases poor batting of Dhoni against his false popular image as an aggressive batsman.

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 6:43 GMT

This statistics is crap and made out to for S Rajesh to show his personal bias towards Dhoni. It is strange that this statistics was brought up now.. and I am sure if India had won this T20, Mr. Rajesh would have not published this. I work in analytics and i know how this stuff rolls, you can tailor and highlight stats that you want to show.

For example: Among the six Indian batsmen who have faced at least 300 balls, Dhoni's strike rate is again easily the lowest. He is also the only one among them to have never scored a half-century.

What about the batting position of each batsmen. Dhoni bats @7 and most times he does not get enough balls to face, and your talking about 50s? this is t20 cricket!!! not test matches...

Hafiz_Khan
on October 6, 2012, 6:27 GMT

nothing wrong with dhoni, top order batsmen failing consistently, they should give good start and platform for middle order and lower order batsmen......

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 5:31 GMT

Include Rahane, Pujara and karthik instead of sehwag, gambhir and Dhoni then the batting will be formidable. Fast bowling, with replacements as Ishant, Awana, Mithun, Vinay, Umesh, praveen, varun India cannot be a gud side in fast bowling.

AMAZINGFAN
on October 6, 2012, 4:35 GMT

POOR ARTICLE.DHONI IS STILL THE BEST LIMITED OVERS BATSMAN OF INDIA....HIS STRIKE RATE MAY BE LOW IN T20 BUT WHEN HE WANTS HE CAN BE AS DEVASTATING AS OTHER BIG HITTERS AROUND THE WORLD...I STILL REMEMBER IPL5 ELIMINATOR WHEN CSK FACED MI AND DHONI WAS STRIKING FROM BALL1...HE SMASHED ALL MALINGA ALL OVER....

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 2:39 GMT

surprised to see misbah with a 100+ strike rate :P

dummy4fb
on October 6, 2012, 2:33 GMT

I think its time for dhoni to leave captaincy in test and t20 format and focus on batting . He can bat but if you are a wicket-keeper and caption too, you won't get time for your own.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 22:13 GMT

Poor Statistics. They missed an important point he is a responsible captain of india who has to place his innings according to the situation. I do not wish MSD to get stripped of his captancy but the day it happens it will be a blessing for him to show his power hitting.

cricfanbds
on October 5, 2012, 21:50 GMT

Dhoni's strike rate is the lowest of all indian players played in the last 2 matches in the word T20, 2012, including the specialist bowlers. He plays for his average to keep his ICC rankings high as ICC rankings gives more importance to the average and not the strike rate even in limited over cricket. Dhoni has lost many matches which india should have won with ease by his selfish play. His ODI strike rate has also gone down from around 96 when he became captain od india and moved to number one ranking by ICC in batting in ODI's

Alexk400
on October 5, 2012, 21:40 GMT

Dhoni is a slogger. Pretty weak outside off stump if opposition has fast bowler with 140kmp speed. He swishes and misses and edge one. He has to go from t20 and ODI. He can be in ODI as wk but i want raina as captain of all format

Stalwart07
on October 5, 2012, 18:54 GMT

Well said Aayush Kataria and stormy16. Dhoni's absence will be felt more when he is not around. The best thing to do is promote him up the order like AB Villiers. We cannot wait for Sehwag who will waste 14 innings to click in the 15th. I feel ,Kohli will be burdened if he is given the captaincy and lose his form. Dhoni should be the captain for the next 2 years atleast.

FormerMiner
on October 5, 2012, 18:40 GMT

Geez Mr. Rajesh. You go so deep into counting trees, you sometimes miss the forest! My head was spinning going through the numbers. Anyway, it is time we stop peeking at T20 Internationals in isolation(as is practice in ODI and Tests). IPL and pretty much all T20s are international in nature. T20 encounters between national teams are in fact few and far in between. The seriousness and stakes in IPL are also just as high. Soooo, given that Dhoni led teams have won one T20 World Cup, Two IPL Championships, one Champions League, two IPL Runners Up with Dhoni doing just what he does, batting at the spot he does and at the strike rate that he does, I'd ignore any alarming tweets concerning Dhoni's strike rate in T20s. And between you and me, as much respect I have for Mr. Aakash Chopra, guidance on T20 is not something I will seek from him. Trust me Dhoni knows a thing or two about T20 that Mr. Chopra does not!

princeofjoy
on October 5, 2012, 17:06 GMT

ha ha ha dhoni is neither Test player nor T20I player he is just rubbish IPL and CLT20 player ha ha ha ha

mathewjohn2176
on October 5, 2012, 16:50 GMT

Posted by Alexk400 on (October 05 2012, 15:20 PM GMT), why do you feel sehwag and Gambhir should be in team when their performances combined is below average of dhoni for past two yrs? Dhoni as wk keeper,batsmen and captain doing better job then lur openers.sehwag and Gambhir wants to be as captain and they create more troubles than showing performances in the team.Look at the way they captains IPL teams and they were the leading runs score in both Delhi and KKr.Once IPL over,they goes back to face the wall.Their captaincy ambition spoiling the entire Indian team .The new selection committee should remove both openers and replace with youngsters,India will be back to winning ways.Whats the use Gambhir make 10 runs when Rahane can score same amount of runs?Dhoni should come up the order and bat freely.Give captaincy to kohli and remove our openers.Cricinfo please publish.

mrmonty
on October 5, 2012, 16:49 GMT

Rajesh, please be objective. Dhoni doesn't just tee off in ODIs; he plays himself in before doing so. There isn't enough time in T20s to do so. The player that are in the lineup prior to him should take the onus and not leave it for Dhoni. After Sachin, he is the whipping boy of Indian cricket. What about repeated failures of Sehwag or Gambhir or the talent Mr. Sharma?

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 16:08 GMT

Time for Dhoni to head home.

Alexk400
on October 5, 2012, 15:27 GMT

Dhoni is not great t20 batsman. He is absolutely great ODI batsman. Sure. Not t20. His strike rate is so low , he should not be in the T20 team. He should be dropped. in T20 you must have strike rate above 120 minimum.

Alexk400
on October 5, 2012, 15:20 GMT

Ok people. I know sehwag did n't do well. Also seems unfit. Sure. But i think its very difficult to find someone like sehwag. he has atleast 2 years left , we have to max out of him. Because of dhoni captaincy both gambhir and sehwag not doing well. For me deliberately based on their views on dhoni. Do i bench sehwag or dhoni. I will drop dhoni completely. Simple reason. We need new young leadership with future in mind. People are not playing or inspired by dhoni anymore. Fault is with dhoni. He got arrogant after world cup. He thinks he can win any game which is not true based on t20 world cup and 8-0 loss. Basically he can not inspire people as he was doing before world cup. I still think dhoni is greatest captain before world cup. After world cup , he is completely gone south. Too much ego , he has to be dumped for team india's sake. Sehwag and gambhir are fine for me. Dhoni still have job mainly because of N Srinivasan. after 8-0 loss dhoni and fletcher would have been fired.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 14:56 GMT

dhoni is a great t20 batsman ,just is batting to low down the order ,when we had dropped sehwag from the team that was the perfect time where he could have batted up if we allowed virat to open ,,but sending pathan to open was a blunder and many people say to me that he should be dropped you will realise how good he is only when he isnt there ,trust me

stormy16
on October 5, 2012, 13:01 GMT

I think Dhoni (like AB) must bat up the order. Lets face it Gayle, Watson, and Dhoni are pretty much the same package except Dhoni is batting under presure a had ful of deliveries. What's more India has an abundance of batting to chip in if there is a loss of wickets. Amazingly guys like Gambir (ok he is a good bat but he is not Dhoni) is up the order while Dhoni warms the bench waiting for his turn. I would much rather open with Dhoni (yes for the Galye effect) ok may be #4 than have him bat in the last overs. The same as AB really - why are these powerhouse strikers not batting maximum time in a T20 game? Ask any bowler would you rather bowl at Gambir or Dhoni in the opening power play!

deasok
on October 5, 2012, 12:57 GMT

What about Rohit? Why somany others are ignored? He is too slow in scoring. One good match in a non-pressure match ( aginst Eng) is nothing. Do not understand how Rohit keeps on getting chance after chance in the T20? 50 over match is a different issue. Besides it was due to Dhonis stupidity that India was ousted, He should not have batted against Australia knowing there was a chance of rain. Afterwards he kept on blaming the rain for the terrible loss. Off with this man Dhoni.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 12:52 GMT

So when we are chewing stats here, it would have been great if we could chew the IPL stats as well. Would have been very different. Sad that Statsguru doesnt have the IPL stats.

If you look at the guys with the lowest strike rates in the last ten overs Albie Morkel, Jacob Oram, Dhoni, Cameron White, Eoin Morgan, these are all typically the Number 6 or Number 7 batsman who have to pretty much come to the crease and have to go bonkers in the last 4-5 overs.

On the contrary if you look at the guys with the best strike rates in the last ten it shows Suresh Raina (No. 3 for most of his T20I career), Brendon Mccullum, AB DeVillers, Michael hussey. Except may be for Dwayne Bravo everyone bats higher up the order. Pretty much all set to slog.

The Last Ten Overs is a very wrong set to consider to compare Stats i feel. Besides Dhoni comes in at 4 or 5 for CSK and 6 and sometimes 7 for India due to the kind of Batting that India has. Direct Comparison is doing injustice to him.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 12:49 GMT

If you really want to compare then compare at what times and situations he has come at the crease..when it is required for big hitting he trusts and give chance to other people above himself to take up the responsibility but it is not always that other people perform. And in that case he comes when there are 5 or 6 wickets gone..so he has to play the innings of consolidation always..I or you or nobody is at that level to criticize dhoni's batting skills..he has proven himself over the year and will keep on doing so in the year to come..In my mind when the time matters he is the most destructive batsmen in the world..he fears none unlike gayle and warner who fear malinga and ajmal resp.

u.t.k.a.l
on October 5, 2012, 12:37 GMT

Dhoni should be droped from captaincy thn only U can see the real hard hitter DHONI in t20. Its high time for the new selectors to inject few fresh legs in the squad. I want 3 captains for 3 formats like england.

Test Captain--------------- Virender Sehwag

One Day Captain ---------------- DHONI

T20 Captain -------------------- Gautam Gambhir.

Follow this and i can guarantee indian team will get not less thn 90% success. :)

TheScot
on October 5, 2012, 12:11 GMT

Yeah just remove the openers, middle order, lower order, and all the bowlers. Lets convince the BCCI president to play ... ya dada dada

guptahitesh4u
on October 5, 2012, 11:24 GMT

Dhoni is feeling the heat as captaiin...I think if he steps down as a captain, he can bat freely...Also, he should bat at either no. 3 or no.4 position in T20 and ODIs...

Chetan0311
on October 5, 2012, 11:09 GMT

I have been following cricket for 15 years. Trust me...Dhoni is a special player and team India needs him badly to continue moving forward. I posted this because I saw many people blindly criticizing him. Probably they do not know much about cricket. Dhoni is a big asset for our team. People who have actually played cricket till atleast State level can only understand this. Rest will just keep on saying rubbish without knowing anything.

Mustafa786110
on October 5, 2012, 11:05 GMT

I must say I am surprised. To me, he is still one of the best strikers when it matters, but that shouldn't deprive him from any T20Is, he is an asset and does well enough as a captain. Love from Pak :)

Temuzin
on October 5, 2012, 10:36 GMT

Actually, its time for Dhoni to take less responsibility and bat freely up the order.
He will be at his best if he opens innings in T-20 and plays at number 3 in odis. let some one else play as a finisher. Time for Dhoni to rebecome the Dhoni he was.

Chetan0311
on October 5, 2012, 10:25 GMT

I have been following cricket for 15 years. Trust me...Dhoni is a special player and team India needs him badly to continue moving forward.
I posted this because I saw many people blindly criticizing him. Probably they do not know much about cricket. Dhoni is a big asset for our team. People who have actually played cricket till atleast State level can only understand this. Rest will just keep on saying rubbish without knowing anything.

jasonpete
on October 5, 2012, 10:02 GMT

Posted by Alexk400 on (October 05 2012, 07:44 AM GMT), your post only target dhoni for all the wrong reasons.What sehwag is doing in the team? What did he do extraordinarily in the recent times as opener? NONE. So keep your views balanced.I feel he should bat up the order.For the team sake,Please remove sehwag and Gambhir from team and sent them to play only IPL who just bring only negativity with zero performances .From the start of England tour until now ,these two big mouth openers are responsible for Indians batting failure and when they performed good was only during the IPL season.I am amazed to see hafeez in the list as a pak opener with poor strike rate ,even umar Akmal is wasted down the order like dhoni.These two should bat up the higher order.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 9:18 GMT

Look at Dhoni's contrasting T20 numbers in the IPL. It's clearly a case of not being motivated enough to play T20 internationals for your country. Zaheer Khan and Dhoni hardly look interested in playing T20Is ever.

pred_2004
on October 5, 2012, 9:07 GMT

Hi...

Why dont we use your fantasy team points .. to find out the best guy in T20... it will show clearily how much dhoni misses out

Ashish_514
on October 5, 2012, 8:59 GMT

When Dhoni came he was a brutal hitter like Gilchrist, Sehwag, Warner. Later he changed his approach to careful accumulation and late blast in ODIs and was successful with many match winning performance. So he brought the same batting approach to his T20 game, which doesn't work here for him. May be he should promote himself up the order and bring that old Dhoni back for T20s. He's a great hitter and can play at 150+ strike rates with ease. May be he should give up t20 captaincy to reduce that burden.

CricketSpiritLover
on October 5, 2012, 8:42 GMT

Dhoni is probably batting too lower in order in both T-20 and ODI.
In ODI, he at-least got few overs to settle in when situation is tight and we lost too many wickets. But T-20 it's different ball-bat games. He should bat up the order or he should open the innings probably. If he plays freely then he is most dangerous batman as he does give his wickets easily.

Romanticstud
on October 5, 2012, 8:10 GMT

Interesting stats ... People have critcised Jacques Kallis for being slow ... He is ... but this is not the MS Dhoni I know ... The MS Dhoni in question should bat in the powerplay overs ... at the start and be agressive live a McCullum ... or a Gayle ... or a Watson / Warner ... instead he has subdued himself to play when sides have already eaten through your top order ... a typical No 5-7 batsman in T20 is one that will look to run off every ball and hit the bad balls over the ropes ... with the field spread you should place the ball in the gaps with the spinners ... and hit with the pace of the ball the fast bowlers ... 466 of Dhoni's balls faced are 0 or 1 almost 80% ... that means the 1st 5 balls go for 2-3 runs and the last ball can be anything from a 2-6 ... 4-9 runs statistically ... those are goodish one-day stats ... a typical over when he is batting should be ... 4,1,4,1,1,1 or 1,6,4,1,1,1, 12-14 runs especially near the end of an inninngs ...

mathewjohn2176
on October 5, 2012, 8:07 GMT

Posted by Alexk400 on (October 05 2012, 04:20 AM GMT), kindly add sehwag along with dhoni. Sehwag is out of form for past few yrs and good only to play IPL.Infact remove both openers as well.Just making 5 runs in 2 balls and throwing away the wickets don't win you matches with higher strike rate.

Alexk400
on October 5, 2012, 7:44 GMT

Major problem with dhoni for me he is bringing negativity by being dhoni the lucky leader. Luck ran out when he lost 8-0. Now world cup. India will continue to lose big matches win all small matches. because dhoni still good enough to win against small teams. But people are not rallying around his leadership anymore.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 7:13 GMT

He has outlived his utility... ineffective in T20, liability in test cricket - both his batting and captaincy... only good in 1-dayers... time for him to give sum1 else a chance

ejsiddiqui
on October 5, 2012, 7:03 GMT

Very good analysis Rajesh. Can you make another analysis focusing on Single Taking Ability or Rotating the Strike Ability (100 - Dot Ball% + Boundry%). Many times we have seen the player who don't rotate strike, pressurize the other batsman who eventually get out by hitting big shots. The person who does not take single eventually makes a decent score but still his team looses. Ultimately, everyone discuss that why other people have thrown their wickets away. They should play like other person who stays at the crease.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 6:23 GMT

This stats clearly suggests.. Dhoni is misfit for the T20Is format and yet he comes ahead of Suresh Raina sometimes.. He must agree that he is not better than Raina... Also he creates extra pressure on other batsman by playing so many dot balls.. After playing dot balls early in T20s you can still make up your strike rate better by hitting couple of sixes.. But that doesnt solve the problem... you must rotate the strike atleast.

shrastogi
on October 5, 2012, 5:46 GMT

One would also like to see the match situation stats also ie when Dhoni came to bat what was India's situation both while batting first and while chasing. Dhoni bats too lower down the order and needs a few balls to get going. That is why he hasnt been such an explosive finisher in t20 internationals ie by the time he gets his eye in the innings is over where as in 50 overs normally there are mmore number of overs there to help him finish well. The moral of the story is that Dhoni should bat up the order.

Samar_Singh
on October 5, 2012, 5:42 GMT

No wonder Dhoni wants to maintain him batting average only, just check his ODI performance too .. He is a good striker of the ball and should apply him self regardless of his average.. Otherwise he should be replaced by inform Dinesh kartik if cricket is a team game.

natasrik
on October 5, 2012, 4:35 GMT

Mr Rajesh, Dhoni being a WK batsman, you should make a comparision with other WK batsman. Secondly, he is captain WK batsman but having said that it would be really difficult to do a comparision in this category, since we don't have many to compare. In my opinion leading a team with a more complex nature like team india with seniors (legend status) around is a challenging task. Leading team india has more responsiblity compared to leading a IPL. Infact Dhoni has done that and just look at the result and the impact he has provided to CSK not only in IPL but CL20.

Alexk400
on October 5, 2012, 4:20 GMT

Dhoni is unfit for T20 and Test matches. Period.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 4:13 GMT

Dhoni is not a player fit to play T20Is. only IPL.

shyamsrk
on October 5, 2012, 4:12 GMT

The fact is that he is a seriously over rated International T20 cricketer and the worst thing is that he defends it in the press conferences

Indian95
on October 5, 2012, 3:34 GMT

who the hell cares about strike rate? just keep good average

Anand_Saboji_23
on October 5, 2012, 3:19 GMT

What to say.. He won the world cup so still a captain after loosing the series against England and Australia. His captaincy decisions also from out of the world or might be from BCCI head office. One more thing to add is in ODI and in T20 he comes lower down the order and slowdown the pace of the innings set by top order batsmans and takes too much of time to get settle, After settling also he doesnt score as he used to be. I think he lost all his cricketing shots and the Captaincy luck. Its time bring up the new Captain.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 2:59 GMT

Interesting statistics. Add to it, he has not scored a 50 yet in Twenty20s and that sums up.

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dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 2:59 GMT

Interesting statistics. Add to it, he has not scored a 50 yet in Twenty20s and that sums up.

Anand_Saboji_23
on October 5, 2012, 3:19 GMT

What to say.. He won the world cup so still a captain after loosing the series against England and Australia. His captaincy decisions also from out of the world or might be from BCCI head office. One more thing to add is in ODI and in T20 he comes lower down the order and slowdown the pace of the innings set by top order batsmans and takes too much of time to get settle, After settling also he doesnt score as he used to be. I think he lost all his cricketing shots and the Captaincy luck. Its time bring up the new Captain.

Indian95
on October 5, 2012, 3:34 GMT

who the hell cares about strike rate? just keep good average

shyamsrk
on October 5, 2012, 4:12 GMT

The fact is that he is a seriously over rated International T20 cricketer and the worst thing is that he defends it in the press conferences

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 4:13 GMT

Dhoni is not a player fit to play T20Is. only IPL.

Alexk400
on October 5, 2012, 4:20 GMT

Dhoni is unfit for T20 and Test matches. Period.

natasrik
on October 5, 2012, 4:35 GMT

Mr Rajesh, Dhoni being a WK batsman, you should make a comparision with other WK batsman. Secondly, he is captain WK batsman but having said that it would be really difficult to do a comparision in this category, since we don't have many to compare. In my opinion leading a team with a more complex nature like team india with seniors (legend status) around is a challenging task. Leading team india has more responsiblity compared to leading a IPL. Infact Dhoni has done that and just look at the result and the impact he has provided to CSK not only in IPL but CL20.

Samar_Singh
on October 5, 2012, 5:42 GMT

No wonder Dhoni wants to maintain him batting average only, just check his ODI performance too .. He is a good striker of the ball and should apply him self regardless of his average.. Otherwise he should be replaced by inform Dinesh kartik if cricket is a team game.

shrastogi
on October 5, 2012, 5:46 GMT

One would also like to see the match situation stats also ie when Dhoni came to bat what was India's situation both while batting first and while chasing. Dhoni bats too lower down the order and needs a few balls to get going. That is why he hasnt been such an explosive finisher in t20 internationals ie by the time he gets his eye in the innings is over where as in 50 overs normally there are mmore number of overs there to help him finish well. The moral of the story is that Dhoni should bat up the order.

dummy4fb
on October 5, 2012, 6:23 GMT

This stats clearly suggests.. Dhoni is misfit for the T20Is format and yet he comes ahead of Suresh Raina sometimes.. He must agree that he is not better than Raina... Also he creates extra pressure on other batsman by playing so many dot balls.. After playing dot balls early in T20s you can still make up your strike rate better by hitting couple of sixes.. But that doesnt solve the problem... you must rotate the strike atleast.